Russell Brand and Jonah Hill are back in this so-called sequel to the great "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". Nicholas Stoller, the director of the 2008 hit, is directing this film as well but this time he's also writing it. Like any Judd Apatow produced film, it does have its share of hilarious raunchiness. It's R rating is prominent here once again, but one of the good things about the film is that it never goes too far. The first half of "Greek" is filled with dirty jokes and drug abuse, but as soon as you think it's going too far, it reaches its second half which has a surprisingly pleasant amount of heart. like "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", you care for the characters here and truly hope that they can find a better lives for themselves. It's the ability of these types of comedies to do this to us that make them worthwhile. Sure it's funny, but where's the emotion? There are only a few that accomplish this, and "Get Him To The Greek" does a nice job.
British rock star Aldous Snow (Brand) is over the hill. He's sunk himself deep with drugs and alcohol. Instead of being an artist, he has turned into a controlled musician with producers telling him what to sing. This is evident by his terribly recieved album "African Child". He's basically done. Then one loyal fan named Aaron Greenberg (Hill), who works for a record company, proposes a plan to the ambitious and demanding Sergio Roma (P. Diddy) to have an Aldous Snow comeback concert in the Greek Theatre in L.A. Seeing this as a great plan, Roma trusts Greenberg with the obstacle of getting Snow to the Greek. Problems arise as Greenberg tries his best to keep Snow on track. Being sidetracked by drugs, alcohol, girls, etc., Greenberg realizes that it'll be hard not only to keep the rocker on track, but himself. The journey to the Greek can be disturbing at times, but ultimately it's a memorable one.
The whole cast here is simply terrific. It's one of the biggest strengths of the whole film. Jonah Hill makes his character a sophisticated but very vulnerable man, although Hill's weight is starting to look like an issue. P. Diddy is fantastic and absolutely hilarious. Some people say that he actually made the film. In my opinion, though, Russell Brand made the film what it is. He's the same old Brand that we've come to know from "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", a wild drug, alcohol, and sex addict. But when the film decides to become sentimental, Brand does a great job of giving Aldous Snow a tremendous amount of heart.
Nicholas Stoller has written and directed a good film that is undoubtedly hilarious at some parts. The problem here is that the film may seem a bit too long and a couple of parts seemingly fall flat. Overall, though it isn't as good as "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", it's a good film that's funny enough to be considered one of the better comedies out there.
Rating: 3 out of 4
